How to think about the way investigations and disinformation have been weaponized
Just when you thought it couldn’t be worse, here we are.
As I reported last week, a star witness for the GOP-led impeachment inquiry, someone Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) had called a “highly credible human source,” was indicted for making false statements and reports.
The informant, Alexander Smirnov, completely fabricated a claim that Joe and Hunter Biden had each received $5 million in bribes from the Ukrainian company, Burisma. For that attempt to frame the Bidens, Smirnov is now facing up to 25 years in prison.
House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer (R-KY) now admits that the House impeachment is on life support because “the math keeps getting worse.” But in fact, it’s his star witnesses who keep getting indicted. Smirnov, unbelievably, is the second GOP witness to face federal charges. The other, Gal Luft, is charged with being an arms dealer, violating Iran sanctions, and (checks notes) being an unregistered foreign agent for China.
That’s some track record for the GOP’s star witnesses.
Then yesterday, another Russian nesting doll emerged. In support of its request to hold Smirnov pending trial, the government revealed that Smirnov had held several high level meetings with Russian intelligence officers in 2023 and was being used as a conduit for disinformation to disrupt the 2024 election.
That’s right: The same guy Reps. Comer and Jordan and Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) pumped as a reason to go after Biden for bribery turned out to be a Russian intelligence tool.
Now the question is, were GOP leaders just useful idiots for Russian election interference, or did they know, like Bill Barr and his cronies apparently did, that Smirnov’s claims were false, but amplified them anyway to dirty up Biden? [Continue reading…]